Drought Read Online Free Page B

much as we can get hold of.’ She dangled her car keys in front of him and said, ‘Take my truck and go to Ralph’s and see how much you can manage to buy. Here, look, here’s a fifty. If there’s any change you can keep it.’
    Tyler tossed his laptop on to the couch. At times he not only looked like his father but sounded like him, which Peta found quite disturbing, as if Martin had gone but left a clone of himself behind, to keep an eye on her. Tyler was tall and wide-shouldered but very skinny, with blond hair that stuck up like a porcupine and a long, chiseled face. He even walked like his father, with that brisk aggressive stride that made people feel that he was coming up to hit them for no reason. He was wearing tight blue rolled-up jeans and a maroon Cardinals T-shirt.
    â€˜Listen,’ she said, ‘I’d go myself, but I can’t leave Ella. I think I may have to take her to the doctor if she gets any worse. I’m just hoping it’s not West Nile fever or anything serious like that.’
    â€˜Oh, come on, Mom! Ella
always
has something wrong with her, you know that. She’s a hypo-con-artist, whatever you call it. She only does it for attention.’
    â€˜She’s
sick
, Tyler. She has a very high temperature and she can’t keep anything down. Now, please.’
    Tyler reluctantly snatched the car keys from her. She followed him out through the front door to the driveway in front of their single-story house, where her turquoise-blue Hilux was parked. The day was cloudless and baking hot, and the concrete driveway was so dazzlingly white that she raised her hand in front of her face to shield her eyes. When she checked the thermometer by the side of the front door she saw that it read 112. Behind the rooftops of the single-story houses on the opposite side of the road, the brown San Bernardino mountains were almost invisible behind a haze of heat, and buzzards were circling over them, around and around, without having to flap their wings even once.
    â€˜Just drive carefully!’ Peta shouted after him, as Tyler backed down into the road. ‘And call me if you have any problems!’ She held up her hand to her ear to mime talking on a cellphone, in case he had already put in his iPod earplugs, and couldn’t hear her.
    Tyler turned left at the end of Fullerton Drive, and headed for University Parkway. He was listening to Rihanna singing ‘Where Have You Been’, and he was singing along with her, tunelessly, under his breath. As he came around the curve toward the parkway, he saw that it was unusually jammed with slow-moving traffic in both directions. He managed to edge his way in front of a people carrier filled with anxious-looking old women, but after that it took him almost ten minutes to cover the short distance to Ralph’s, stopping and starting every few yards. Every now and then there would be a barrage of horn-blowing but that did nothing to make the traffic move forward any faster.
    It was only when Ralph’s came into view that Tyler could see what was causing the delay. Red-and-white barriers had been set up across the entrance to the supermarket parking lot, and at least half-a-dozen police officers were directing traffic to keep moving. He put down his passenger-side window as he came closer and called out to one of the cops standing by the side of the road. ‘What’s the problem, officer?’ He could see his own reflection in the yellow lenses of the cop’s sunglasses.
    â€˜Store’s closed until further notice, son. Keep moving.’
    â€˜I’m only looking to buy some bottled water.’
    â€˜Sure, you and everybody else in San Berdoo. People started fighting over it, so they had to close.’
    â€˜Any idea where I can get some?’
    â€˜Even if I knew, son, I wouldn’t tell you, but I don’t, so I can’t.’
    Tyler closed the window again because uncomfortably warm air